Homeless still

IN THEIR otherwise excellent article, "Housing First" (Ideas, June 24), Florence Graves and Hadar Sayfan note people often forget that "widespread urban homelessness is a recent problem that began in the early '80s," but they fail to give credit where credit is due. Ronald Reagan cut the budget of the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 75 percent. When the federal programs disappeared that had created financial incentives for private investors to set up and maintain affordable housing such as single-room-occupancy buildings, affordable housing disappeared also. Two million people ended up on the streets. The programs have never been restored.

JANE COLLINS
Medford